Bio:

Richard Neville the Earl of Warwick is 42 years old at the start of War & Roses in January 1470. Known by the commoners as the “Kingmaker” because he has undone and made kings previously in the ongoing War of the Roses, the Earl of Warwick is unquestionably the most powerful noble in the whole Kingdom. Richard was knighted in the year 1445. In the year 1448 he fought at the Battle of Sark in Scotland under the 2nd Earl of Northumberland. From 1449 until 1451, Warwick served in Northern France commanding over 500 mounted men-at-arms in several minor skirmishes of no importance with the French and the Burgundians. His personal badge is a chained and muzzled bear with a ragged staff.

During the earliest days of the War of the Roses he and his father Richard the Earl of Salisbury were the Duke of York’s most steadfast allies. Warwick fought at the First Battle of St. Albans in 1455 where he killed Sir Henry Percy the 2nd Earl of Northumberland in personal combat, the Earl of Warwick slaying the Earl of Northumberland with three blows of his axe after the Earl had been unhorsed and wounded.

The Earl of Warwick also fought at Ludford Bridge in the year 1459. Thereafter he escaped to Calais; languishing in French exile for over a year. Warwick returned to England, landing in Sandwich along with 2,000 men. He was in command at the Battle of Northampton in the year 1460 where he won a great victory for the House of York. In this battle he captured King Henry VI and then later freed his brother Sir John Neville the Earl Montagu from Lancastrian captivity. He was wounded slightly in this battle and killed three Lancastrian knights in the mêlée and press.